Advent Calendar Day 20: The Caganer

The caganer is a staple of Catalonian Nativity scenes, which,
traditionally, have a lot of specific characters, including a weaver spinning
thread and a woman washing clothes.The
caganer, however, isn’t undertaking a professional task like the others; he’s
hidden off to the side, pooping.

The figure, which likely began appearing in Nativity scenes
in the late 1600s, seems to me a commentary on the pastoral motif that had become
very popular during the baroque period.City folks, artists, and the nobility were enamored with the idea of a
simple country life, but their romantic depictions rarely reflected its
struggling, dirty reality.The caganer
could easily be seen as a representation of the “real” within the idealized,
tethering the first Christmas to reality in a way that the contrived and
emotionally manipulative Nativity arrangements were failing to do.

There is a wonderful modern narrative that not only sweetens
(Christmasises?) the idea of the caganer but which ties him to another poop-centric
Catalonian Christmas tradition, the Tio’ de Nadal, a smiling log that poops
candy on Christmas morning.As there is
no earthly way to improve upon this juxtaposition of these two regionally and
thematically linked characters, I’ll simply link to it. It’s a short, brilliant read.